Friday, September 30, 2016

He was the first Republican to be elected mayor of New York in a long, long time. Not a surprise that the Big Apple had rarely voted for a Republican, as it is most likely one of the most liberal cities in the world, and certainly among the very most liberal cities in the country.

So it was a bit surprising that Giuliani would ascend to this position. Yet, the very next year, he seemed to put his political career on the line by going against his party and backing Democrat Mario Cuomo for governor of New York, rather than the Republican candidate, George Pataki. Pataki won in a mild surprise, and it seemed that Giuliani had hurt his own career.

Yet, Giuliani won re-election, and had earned a reputation as the man who was cleaning up the city. He was mayor during September 11th, and showed a measure of leadership that won him respect throughout the country, if not perhaps even the world.

However, it should be remembered that Giuliani also had a reputation by some as a nasty man. Former Mayor Ed Koch even wrote a book about Giuliani detailing how nasty this man was. He was no friend of the homeless, and suggested that they should realize that they would be better off in warm weather cities than in New York City. His efforts to clean the city up essentially sped up the process of gentrification. And following September 11th, he seemed to use the respect that he had earned to pursue higher political achievements, running for the White House in 2008, and briefly being seen as the GOP frontrunner.

However, Rudy Giuliani started unraveling after a joke made in passing by Joe Biden. Biden basically said that Giuliani lacked substance when he said that Giuliani's sentences consisted of a "noun, a verb, and 9/11."

That was all that it took for Giuliani's seemingly overnight success story to turn into a laughing stock for late night shows. If he had indeed more substance, surely he would have been able to get past that. Yet, since he indeed did remind anyone within earshot of 9/11, and lacked any more substantive stance on issues that this troubled country was facing at the time, then he surely would have stuck around.

But he didn't, and that should tell you something right there.

Giuliani faded. He quickly lost his front runner status and, before long, was forced to suspend his campaign. There would be no President Giuliani.

Over time, the rest of the country also got clued into what New Yorkers had already largely known about Mayor Giuliani prior to September 11th - that he was a nasty man. That he was petty, divisive, and often ruthless against people who could not fight back, particularly the homeless. In fact, this would grow to be more the case, not less.

Now, Giuliani has less a running joke, and more a nagging sore to the country. He keeps saying things that people - most tellingly his former supporters - really wish he would not say. Things that sound quite blatantly racist. No surprise, then, that he has lent his support to the Donald Trump for President campaign.

The latest absurd statement to pour from his big mouth is that laws do not apply when it comes to war, that "anything's legal."

This is more or less an extension of some of what the Bush administration was advocating, when they tried to imply that the guarantees of the Geneva Convention did not apply to "enemy combatants," and that methods of persuasion that were uncomfortably close to torture could be used by Americans. Only Giuliani is going still farther, and treading into downright Trump kind of territory, as he is assuming that the United States could and should simply take what it wants from a country, let's say oil, of course. Because that was pretty much obviously the reason that we got involved in Iraq and so much of the Middle East to begin with.

Specifically, Giuliani worded it thus:

“Of course it’s legal. It’s a war. Until the war is over, anything’s legal.”

Actually, that is not correct. Law and order is not officially suspended simply because of a war. Nor is this a new trend. Laws governing war, and specifically, protecting private property, have been around now for over one hundred years.

A lot of Giuliani supporters, for that matter, have grown tired of the former Mayor's increasingly erratic behavior and rather ridiculous statements, to the point that they believe that these kinds of statements are potentially harming Giuliani's legacy, which was, until recently, more or less a positive one. After all, he showed undeniable leadership during 9/11, so credit needs to be given where it is due.

However, his rather racist statements as of late, mixed with this latest statement on how anything is legal during war, not to mention surely other idiotic statements (he is supporting Trump, after all) probably have already compromised his legacy, and have discredited him and, yes, his legacy.

Here is the link to the Giuliani article where he argues that everything is legal during war, including forceful seizure of private property. It includes video. I recommend taking a look for yourself, just to see for your own eyes and hear with your own ears what this former mayor and, perhaps even hero, has become (or perhaps he has always been that way, and was just good at hiding it at the most opportune times).